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"PATRIOTISM 
AND WAR" 



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AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BY 



Honorable Robert Bridges 

President Port Commission, Port of Seattle 



AT 



RENTON AND ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON 

ON 

JULY FOURTH, 1917 






PIGOTT PRINTING CONCEUN 



6^ 



ADDRESS DELIVERED AT RENTON AND ISSAQUAH JULY 4TH, 1917 
By ROBERT BRIDGES 

^ Today, as we are gathered together to celebrate the birthday of our 
country, in each of our hearts there are many deep and serious 
questionings, — heart searchings after truth and guidance. /^Por we have 
engaged ourselves in a great world conflict. Thousands, yes per- 
haps millions of our strongest and best sons will soon go forth into foreign 
lands and sacrifice all man holds most precious in life, even life itself. And 
we would not be worthy of our heritage if this were not an hour of most 
serious thoughtfulness and deep heart searchings. And in trying to bring 
you some word of guidance, which would throw light upon our pathway, 
there came to my mind the words of our great and martyred President, 
when he stood in just such a dark and critical hour as this and searched 
deeply his own mind and heart for a guiding light. And it was then that 
Lincoln said: 

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound 
to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have. I must stand 
with anybody who stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part 
with him when he goes wrong." 

These words have a deep bearing on America's present and future con- 
duct. In fact, I sincerely believe it was some such thought as this that 
guided our present great President in the course he followed. As we look 
back now we see how he struggled through the last few years to avoid if 
possible the participation of America in this war. But the time came when 
he was forced to part with a nation whom he finally realized had gone 
wrong, had violated every principle of humanity, every principle of justice 
and liberty on the altar of an overpowering ambition. Let me use the 
President's own language to express why we had not only to part with 
Germany gone wrong, but to take up arms against her: — 

"These are questions which must be answered. We are Americans. 
We in our turns serve America, and can serve her with no private purpose. 
We must use her flag as she has always used it. We are accountable at 
the bar of history and must plead in utter frankness what purposes it is 
we seek to serve. 

HOW WE WERE FORCED INTO WAR. 

"It is plain enough how we were forced into the war. The extraordin- 
ary insults and aggressions of the imperial German government left us no 
self-respecting choice but to take up arms in defense of our rights as a free 
people and of our honor as a sovereign government. The military masters 
of Germany denied us the right to be neutral. They filled our unsuspecting 
communities with vicious spies and conspirators and sought to corrupt the 
opinion of our people in their own behalf. 

"When they found that they could not do that, their agents diligently 
spread sedition amongst us and sought to draw our own citizens from their 
allegiance — and some of those agents were men connected with the official 
embassy of the German government itself here in our own capital. They 
sought by violence to destroy our industries and arrest our commerce. 



They tried to incite Mexico to take up arms against us and to draw Japan 
into a hostile alliance with her — and that, not by indirection, but by direct 
suggestion from the foreign office in Berlin. They impudently denied us 
the use of the high seas and repeatedly executed their threat that they 
would send to their death any of our people who ventured to approach the 
coasts of Europe. 

"And many of our own people were corrupted. Men began to look 
upon their own neighbors with suspicion and to wonder in their hot resent- 
ment and surprise whether there was any community in which hostile 
intrigue did not lurk. What great nation in such circumstances would not 
have taken up arms? Much as we had desired peace, it was denied us and 
not of our own choice. This flag under which we serve would have been 
dishonored had we withheld our hand." 

REASON FOR GERMANY'S ACTION 

But as President Wilson said, this is only part of the story, a small part 
affecting us as a people. The question arises. Why did Germany do these 
things to America? We were not hostile to them. In the beginning we 
were friendly. We had done nothing to incur the enmity of Germany or 
any other nation. What then was her purpose in sending intriguing spies 
and emissaries of evil broadcast throughout our land? Why did she wan- 
tonly sink our ships, destroy our property within our own borders, seek to 
turn Mexico and Japan against us, and so make war on us in every form 
except use of arms? Why? 

Though we were loath to believe, the answer is clear today. Germany 
was in the grip of a great war machine, a machine directed by a group of 
men who had, like Alexander and Napoleon, dreamed dreams of world con- 
quest, and the forming on a military foundation of a world empire. There 
can be no misunderstanding of this now. 

GERMANY'S PLAN 

During the present war a number of copies of a book of military in- 
structions and plans have been found on the persons of German officers of 
position who were captured by the French and English. This book out- 
lined the plans of Germany. It told of how in one month she would pass 
through Belgium and occupy Paris. In three months, advance across the 
channel to London. Each step in the plan was outlined and in this book 
were two maps, the first a map of Europe — Europe as it was to be after the 
German conquest. Across the whole of Europe was written in bold type the 
word "Germania." On it was marked in large letters "Berlin," showing 
it to be the capital of a great state. Paris, London and the other principal 
cities were shown as county seats. But this was not all. There was another 
map — the map of North America, and across it was again written in great 
bold type the word "Germania," the "A" covering the capital of our country 
the "G" being located approximately where Seattle now stands. This was 
the dream of German autocracy, and for years and years they had been 
preparing to bring their dream to an actuality. 

And my friends, we must face the situation as it exists. Already Ger- 



many has accomplished much of her dream. She now holds Belgium, claim- 
ing it as a part of the German Empire. A considerable portion of the most 
fertile and valuable of the country of France she holds and claims as her 
own. Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey have all practically given their consent 
to her emperical designs, — Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro are all in her 
net and thus we see her holding today territory stretching from the At- 
lantic Ocean in Europe to the Persian Gulf in Asia. 

AMERICAN IXDEPEXDEXCE 

I think, my friends, I have said enough to show you it is a serious busi- 
ness we are now engaiged in. But I would not have you think in terms of 
the possible menace to our own country if Germany prevails in this war. 
I ask you not to think in terms of self, but a larger humanity. For cen- 
turies slowly but surely the peoples of the world have been progressing 
toward free institutions. And it is the conviction of all great democrats 
that it is this progress toward freedom of mankind that is now jeopardized 
by the mailed fist of the Kaiser and his minions. And we ask ourselves. 
What is our paramount duty today? The answer lies in the answer to 
another question. For what was America born on the 4th of July, 1776? 
And I give you that answer by quoting again from the lips of our great 
President in Washington: 

"The reason I am proud to be an American is because America was 
given birth by such conceptions as these, that its object in the world, its 
only reason for existence, as a government, was to show men the paths of 
liberty, and mutual serviceability, to lift the common man out of the paths, 
out of the slough of discouragement and even despair; set his feet upon 
firm ground, tell him, 'Here is the high road upon which you are as much 
entitled to walk as are we, and we will see that here is a free field and no 
favor, and that as your moral qualities are and your physical powers, so will 
your success be. We will not let any man make you afraid and we will not 
let any man do you an injustice.' " 

Such was America's ideal, not always has she lived up to it, but always, 
even in her failures, she has striven toward this end. It is because of this 
that we as a people opened our doors to everybody who wanted to be free, 
and to have the same opportunity everybody else had, to make the most of 
his faculties and his opportunities, and we know America will retain its 
greatness only so long as it retains and seeks to realize those ideals. 

And it is in furtherance of these ideals that we have entered this war 
to uphold the reason of our birth — service of humanity and the question 
now is what shall our contribution be? 

The contributions which we should make toward the success of our 
allies is at present well defined: 

1st. We must furnish men to assist France and England in the 
trenches; 

2nd. We must furnish arms and munitions; 

3rd. We must furnish money; 

4th. We must furnish ships; 

5th. We must supply large quantities of food, not only to our allies, 
but to neutral nations; 

6th. We must exercise a constructve diplomacy. 



All of these things it is important for us to do. Some of them it is 
imperative that we do. But it seems to me that the furnishing of ships and 
supplying of food, and the exercising of a constructive diplomacy are the 
most important weapons in the hands of America. And we must perform 
our acts with a free hand and a free heart and with that feeling of brother- 
hood instilled into us by the Great Emperor of all humanity. 



SUBMARINE CA3IPAIGN — FOOD SUPPLY 

It is apparent that Germany relies at present on the submarine cam- 
paign to sweep the commerce of the allies and of neutral countries from 
the seas, and so cut off the food supply of England, France and Italy. It is 
a campaign whose object is to starve our allies into submission. Already a 
considerable percentage of England's merchant marine operated by neutral 
countries has been withdrawn from commerce through fear of the sub- 
marine warfare. We must, therefore, supply sufficient ships to take the 
place of those being daily destroyed, but the supplying of these ships are 
merely for the purpose of sending food to England and France, not to 
neutral countries as well. It is said that England has at no time more 
than three or four weeks of food supply on hand to feed her population and 
soldiers. France probably could hold out longer but not much longer. 
In addition to this, such neutral countries as Norway and Sweden must 
look to America for sufficient supply of food. In this connection, it is 
interesting to note that Norway alone among the neutral nations has re- 
fused to submit to the fear of the submarine warfare and though she has 
suffered severe losses, is continuing the operation of her large merchant 
fieet. This is a fact which we should not forget, for even at the present 
moment Norway and her neighbor Sweden are suffering because of the 
great food shortage in England and France. Both of these countries have 
been shipping out all their surplus food supplies to our allies, and Norway 
has been carrying these supplies in her merchant fleet. So we must not 
forget our duty in supplying food not only to our allies, but to these neutral 
countries who are assisting indirectly in the sviccess of this war. 

These are the reasons why the President of the United States has pre- 
sented several bills to Congress which give to him extraordinary powers in 
the regulation and control of our food supply, and as we are aware, the 
President has already appointed Mr. Hoover, who in the past three years 
has had the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars and food sup- 
plies in the Belgian Relief Commission, and gained a reputation throughout 
Europe for his marvelous capacity shown in the feeding of the millions of 
starving Belgians. The main features of the program of the President 
and Mr. Hoover for the control of food are as follows: 

Voluntary mobilization of food producers and distributors for "intel- 
ligent control of food consumption." 

Full inquii-y into existing available food stocks, costs and practices of 
food producing distributing trades. 

Prevention of all food hoarding and "corners". 

Requisitioning of food supplies and equipment for handling them when 
necessary. 



Government establishment of prices to guarantee farmers their profits. 

Prohibition of food waste. 

Licensing of legitimate mixtures and milling percentages. 

Control to end immediately after the war. 

The particular interest to you as producers is that part of the program 
which provides for the fixing of prices, with a minimum price to the farm- 
er, and the further provision which will tend to prevent the hoarding of food 
supplies and the establishing of "corners" in staple food products. I would 
call your attention to the fact that Mr. Hoover in a public announcement 
stated that in his experience in Europe, one of the most efficient methods 
of solving the food problem was to obtain as far as possible local control 
of food situations in the various localities. 

This leads me to speak briefly of an institution, — the Port District of 
the Port of Seattle. As you probably know, the Port District of the Port 
of Seattle is a municipal corporation, co-extensive with the county of King, 
and that the people of this district have built at a cost of approximately 
six and one-half million dollars, the most modern docks and warehouses to 
be found anywhere in the United States, and among the facilities which we 
now have are the following: 

A large storage warehouse for all kinds of miscellaneous cold storage 
at Bell Street. 

A large fruit cold storage, with a capacity of 600,000 boxes, at Spo- 
kane Street, and adjoining this, a large fish cold storage warehouse, with 
equipment for the freezing of fish and an ice plant for the manufacture 
of ice for the preserving of fresh fish and the selling of ice to the small 
independent fishermen. 

In addition to this, the Port District has a public grain elevator of 
500,000 bushels capacity, now being increased to 1,000,000 bushels capac- 
ity, and several large storehouses and warehouses to store grain, potatoes, 
and other commodities which do not require cold storage facilities. 

All of these properties are owned by the public and are operated by 
the Port Commission in the interest of the public, and the primary aim 
and object of the Port Commission is not to make revenue from these 
properties, but to handle food as nearly as possible at cost, with the result 
that the farmers and producers are enabled to bring their products to a 
central market and have the best equipped modern storage at a price which 
is fixed on the basis of public service, rather than on the basis of all the 
traffic will bear, — the theory of the private institutions. 

PORT COMMISSION'S STORAGE PLAN: 

At the outbreak of the war, the Port Commission tendered to the 
United States Government the services of the Commission and the proper- 
ties at its disposal to aid in solving the food problem, to assist in doing 
our part in this vital question of food preservation and control. More 
recently, I, as President of the Port Commission, have been working on a 
plan which, if carried out, will operate directly to prevent the food specu- 
lator from using these great public properties to hoard food supplies at 
the expense of the public, and at the expense of our allies in Europe. 

This plan has two phases, — first, — The plan adopts a schedule of stor- 



age rates wherein the policy of storage houses, which has always been in 
operation in the past, is reversed, nanaely, the practice has been to charge 
a high storage during the first few months and gradually decrease the 
rate the longer the articles are held in storage. Under this plan, a lower 
rate will be charged for the first month or so of storage, with an increasing 
scale during every month the food is kept. It is apparent that this aims 
a direct blow at those persons and companies who go about and buy from 
the farmers, potatoes, eggs, butter, grain and all forms of supplies, when 
the same are cheap, and then hold them during long periods in storage in 
order to keep these goods out of active competition and thus hold the 
price at a high rate. 

PORT'S SELLING PLAN: 

The second phase, is if possible to utilize the machinery of the Port 
Commission for cutting out the excessive profits of the commission broker. 
This is to be done by inducing farmers to send their products directly to 
the Port's warehouses, and then have the Port distribute these to the 
grocers and other retailers, thus eliminating the commission and whole- 
saler who is largely responsible for the high prices. 

If there were similar institutions situated in other large cities of the 
country, there could be no more efficient way of assisting the President 
and his food administrator, Mr. Hoover, in solving the food problem. 

MORE FOOD PRODUCERS: 

In considering this matter of food supply of our allies, we must bear 
in mind that this Is one place where every citizen, be he man, woman or 
child, can do his part, and it can be done by individuals particularly in 
two ways. 

First, — by bringing into the ranks new food producers. It may 
Interest you to know that there are now in this country three hundred 
thousand boys and girls in corn clubs, poultry clubs, pig clubs, canning 
clubs, etc., but we should have at least ten million or more engaged in 
these enterprises. Not only so, but every one who has a piece of ground, 
large of small, should utilize that ground to its fullest capacity. Another 
way in which every individual and family can aid in the success of this 
war is to prevent the enormous waste of food that takes place yearly in 
this country. 

FOOD WASTE: 

It has been estimated that there is approximately $700,000,000 worth 
of food now wasted yearly in this country, not to mention the $145,000,000 
of food material used in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages. It seems 
as if Congress would now enact a law to prevent the use of food stuffs 
in the manufacture of alcoholic liquors, and thus save the $145,000,000, 
but we the people in our individual families must take care of the waste 
of the $700,000,000, and this is why Mr. Hoover, in outlining his plan 
for food control, has made a special appeal to the women of the country. 

"The third equally important department is one of domestic economy. 
As 90 per cent of the ultimate food consumption of the country is in the 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY: 

hands of the women of the country, we will shortly place before them a 
plan of organization including policies as to the elimination of waste, the 
reduction of consumption, the substitution of local commodities for those 
from further afield, the substitution of over-abundant commodities for 
those which we wish to export to our allies and instruction in the intel- 
ligent purchase and use of food stuffs and to set public opinion against 
waste and extravagance in public places. 

"We do not ask that the American people should starve themselves, 
but that they should eat plenty, wisely and without waste. 

"It is my present idea to propose a plan to the American women by 
which we ask every woman in control of the household to join as an actual 
member of the food administration and give us a pledge that she will so 
far as her means and circumstances permit, carry out the instructions 
which we will give her in detail from time to time. 

"We hope to set up such an organization over and above this vast 
army of supporters as will give it efficiency and intelligence in action. 

"There is no service in this war on behalf of our own country and our 
allies in which the women of the country can so well enlist themselves as 
in this service, and the success of the food administration will rest very 
largely upon the support which we receive from them." 

CONSTRUCTIVE DIPLOMACY: 

There is one other way in which America can contribute largely to 
the successful issue in the present war, and that I term "Constructive 
diplomacy." We have announced to the nations of the world that our 
object in entering this war is to over-throw once and for all autocracy, 
and to establish democracy in its place. We consider that we have a 
right to make this statement because we claim to be the greatest demo- 
cratic country of all the nations, but there are those in foreign countries 
who, in looking upon America and her opportunities, do not consider 
that we are a great democracy, but say that we, though in form a democ- 
racy, have been and still are ruled to a great extent by an autocracy of 
wealth and vested interests, and those of us who have been fighting this 
autocracy of wealth and vested interest realize today with shame in our 
hearts that the greatest humiliation of America's entry into the war to 
bring about democracy is that we cannot throw ourselves into such a 
great pursuit without meeting this criticism. For we know it is just. 

This is one of the great troubles in Russia at the present time. Many 
of the men belonging to the revolutionary party of Russia, who have 
fought and sacrificed for years to bring about a free Russia, are skeptical 
of the democracy of the United States, and even greater is the feeling of 
suspicion among the rank and file of the German people, and it is my 
sincere conviction that if America right now would set about to create a 
real democracy and demonstrate to the nations of the earth what free 
institutions and equal opportunities really meant, that such an act would 
do more toward winning the war than most any other thing we could do. 
In this connection, I would call to your attention what wonderful oppor- 
tunity the entry of the United States into this war gives us of righting 



many mistakes which ought never to have been made, over-throwing 
many institutions whicli ought never to have existed in tliis country of 
opportunity. There never should have been in this country the creation 
of fortunes of hundreds of millions of dollars that were not earned by the 
holders thereof. The great natural resources of this country, the gold, 
the iron, the forests, the oil, and all the vast resources in our public domain 
were given over to private capital to exploit. The title to these properties, 
worth billions of dollars, should never have passed from the United States 
government, neither should the great transportation facilities, the rail- 
roads, the steamship lines and all the local transportation be held in pri- 
vate ownership. These are public institutions and should be operated and 
owned by the public for the public benefit. Then there are the millions 
of acres of the public domain that have passed into private hands and are 
now held out of use for speculative purposes, and as you here, — know 
from experience that the price which one has to pay means a tax on all 
his future industry. I wonder, is it too much to hope that out of this 
war a condition may arise where through the very necessity of things the 
government will take back that which it ought never to have given away. 
It may be that all cannot be taken back, but I firmly believe that it should 
be the policy of those who love liberty and freedom to use this war as a 
great implement to wrest from the hands of the plutocrats of our own 
country their unholy gains, and if, perchance, we could do this, even to a 
considerable extent, I know, and you know what the result would be. 
Already in Germany there is a leaven of unrest among the common peo- 
ple, for the German over-lords have done a greater injustice to the com- 
mon people of Germany, a greater wrong, if such a thing were possible, 
than they did even to the people of Belgium whom they overran, and the 
object of America's diplomacy should be to make these wronged German 
citizens, who love liberty as we love it, see that only by free institutions 
such as ours, can equal opportunity be obtained, and if we could accom- 
plish even in part the giving back to the people the wealth which naturally 
belonged to them, the effect of this on the German people and on every 
warring nation would, I am certain, be far beyond what any one could 
imagine. I myself believe that a thorough-going cleaning of our own 
house would do more toward establishing the principles of democracy and 
freedom in the world at large and bringing a speedy peace on a democratic 
basis than any single act which could be accomplished. The peoples of 
every country are now in a ferment and, I say, let the United States take 
the lead and establish a real democracy. Give the people the things which 
belong to them by right, and the people of England, the people of France, 
of Spain, of Italy, yes, even of Germany, will demand like privileges and 
institutions, and this is what I mean by the term, "constructive democracy." 
This is the hour when the lovers of freedom all over our country 
should assert themselves. The strongholds of privilege can be taken now, 
if ever, but we must assert ourselves. We must let our demands be known, 
and we must not hesitate to make those demands large. I think I voice 
the sentiment of the great majority of the rank and file of our people 
when I say that if there has been any holding back in any quarter from 
America's participation in this war, it is because many of us have had 
the suspicion that those in the high places were not in this war to 



further democracy, were not in it to bring about equal opportunities for 
all men, and, if ever I believed that we were going to sacrifice thousands, 
perhaps millions of the lives of our best and strongest men, spend hun- 
dreds of millions of dollars and thus mortgage future generations, and 
yet, as a result of all the misery and all the suffering and all the terrible 
cost, attain nothing more than the perpetuation of the system of govern- 
ment as it now exists in this country and in other countries, I for one 
would feel it were not worth while. 

But, if on the other hand, out of the suffering and sacrifice of the men 
vv'ho have fought and will fight in the trenches, there would arise a new 
world after the war, a world in which there was a real democracy, with 
free institutions existing in all the civilized countries, then you and I and 
every citizen would be only too glad to give everything we had to aid this 
cause. And I say again, the word has gone forth, even from the mouths 
of the vested interests in our own country, that this is a war for democracy, 
I say, let us make it such, and in doing so make a clean sweep, so that 
the world which exists after the war will be a new place, a changed place, 
a place which would not be recognizable as the old. 

And it is not right, if we are going to call upon millions and millions 
of men to undergo suffering and hardships, to sacrifice their lives, and all 
they have in the furtherance of democracy, that the great barons of wealth 
should also give up in aid of democracy the riches they have obtained, by 
taking the great natural resources that should have been retained by all the 
people. 

In thinking and speaking and trying to realize to the full what the 
true significance is of the strivings of men and women all over the world 
for a greater freedom, for larger opportunities, for the right to live fully 
in the sun, I often feel as if we stood before a great Presence. Particularly 
on such a day as this, in an hour such as this, raught with so many diffi- 
culties, and yet with so many wonderful possibilities, I feel that Presence 
is near us. It is something more than a great personage, more majestic, 
more powerful, more lovable than any individual or group of individuals. 
It is that wonderful thing, that almost superhuman thing made up of all 
the lives, all the noble sacrifices, high devotion, unselfish acts and upward 
reaching thoughts, of the millions and millions of men and women who. 
from the beginning of time in every land, have lived and thought and toiled, 
and it seems to me as if the lives and souls of all these were welded into 
one great Personality that stood now, looking down on the world, de- 
manding that we, who hold the heritage of their lives of toil and sacrifices, 
we who hold the vantage ground obtained by the ideals they had and the 
sacrifices they made for freedom, that we at this hour, when the world 
is in turmoil, make the grand effort of our lives to see that our part in 
this war for the freedom of mankind shall really come to be. 

WHICH STANDARD IS RIGHT: 

George Washington in his first inaugural address (17 89) spoke as 
follows: 

"The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and 
immutable principles of private morality. There exists in the course of 



nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty 
and advantage, between honest policy and public felicity" (and) "the 
propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a union (or govern- 
ment) that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven 
itself has ordained." 

The present war is for a large part being waged to settle whether the 
American or the Prussian standard of morality is valid. 

"The autocratic spirit' of the German Emperor is clearly revealed in 
his own utterances (cf. p. 11). The Imperial Government is in form a 
government by the Emperior and the Imperial Diet. The dominant factor 
in the latter is the Federal Council (Bundesrat), appointed by the kings 
and princes. Here as King of Prussia, William II, can make or break any 
policy. Prussia is the controlling factor political, economic, and military 
in modern Germany. In area it constitutes two-thirds of Germany, and 
five-eights of its population and two-thirds of the members of the lower 
house of the German Congress are Prussians. Within Prussia there is 
little limit on the power of William II. In a constitution which his great 
uncle "decreed" in 1850 the rights of the King and of the "Junkers" (the 
feudal military nobles east of the Elbe) are carefully guarded. 

The constitution of Prussia has remained practically unchanged and 
the electorial districts and three class voting system of nearly 70 years 
ago still exist. Liberal industrial areas are without adequate representa- 
tion in the Prussian Diet, and the old country districts are practically 
"rotten burroughs" where the peasant who votes by voice, not written bal- 
lot is at the mercy of his feudal noble landlord. It is the latter who back 
the throne and its autocratic power so long as the policy suits their narrow 
provincial militaristic views formed in the days of Frederick the Great 
and his despotic father and revived and glorified by Bismarck." 

We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling 
toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their 
impulse that their government acted in entering the war. It was not with 
their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as 
wars used to be determined upon in the old unhappy days, when peoples 
were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and 
waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who 
were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools. 

The German people had not the slightest share in shaping the events 
which led up to the declaration of war. The German Emperor is clothed 
by the imperial constitution with practically autocratic power in all matters 
of foreign policy. The reichstag has not even a consultative voice in 
such matters. The German constitution (art. II.) gives to the Emperor 
specific power to "declare war, conclude peace, and enter into alliances." 
The provision that only defensive wars may be declared by the Emperor 
alone puts the power in his hands to declare this and any other war with- 
out consulting any but the military group, for no power in modern times 
has ever admitted that it waged aggressive warfare. William II declared 
this war without taking his people into the slightest confidence until the 
final deed was done. 

The whole tendency of responsible German statesmen has been to 
ignore the people in foreign affairs. One retired chancellor. Prince von 



Bulow, defended this policy bluntly on the ground that the Germans 
were not capable of self-government, saying "We are not a political 
people." 

As for William II, speeches without number can be cited to show 
his sense of his own autocratic authority — e. g., speaking at Konigsberg, 
in 1910 — "Looking upon myself as the instrument of the Lord, regardless 
of the views and the opinions of the hour, I go on my way." 

And another time: "There is but one master in this country; it is I, 
and I will bear no other." He has also been very fond of transforming 
an old Latin adage, making it read: "The will of the king is the highest 
law." 

Let us repeat the words of Abraham Lincoln (second inaugural ad- 
dress, 1865): 

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the 
right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in — 
to bind up another's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the 
battle, and for his widow and orphans; to do all which may achieve 
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." 

Friedrich von Bernhardi (German lieutenant general, and acceptable 
mouthpiece, not of the whole German nation, but of the Prussian military 
caste which holds the German nation in its grip): 

"Might is at once the supreme right, and the dispute as to what is 
right is decided by the arbitrament of war." (p. 23.) 

"It is outrageous to presume that a weak nation is to have the same 
right to live as a powerful and vigorous nation." (p. 34) 

"The inevitableness, the idealism, and the blessedness of war as 
indispensable and stimulating law of development must be repeatedly em- 
phasized." (p. 37) 

"Our people must learn to feel that the maintenance of peace never 
can or may be the goal of a policy." (p. 37, Germany and the next War.") 

Which of these two national viewpoints is to be allowed to dominate 
the world? 

AMERICA'S POSITION, IX THE LANGUAGE OF OUR PRESIDENT: 

"For us there is but one choice. We have made it. Woe be to the 
man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way in this day of high 
resolution when every principle we hold dearest is to be vindicated and 
made secure for the salvation of the nations. We are ready to plead at 
the bar of history, and our flag shall wear a new lustre. Once more 
we shall make good with our lives and fortunes the great faith to which 
we were born, and a new glory shall shine in the face of our people. 

"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, every- 
thing that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those 
who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her 
blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness 
and the peace which she has treasured. 

"God helping her, she can do no other." 




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